Michelle “Peach” Roberts and her sister, Cheri Bradford, figure she was 5 years old when Roberts first pitched in to help at the Grant Community Center, 8 when she first volunteered at the Grant Seafood Festival.

“We mixed coleslaw standing on buckets one year,” Roberts said.

There’s little chance they’ll do that again Saturday and Sunday as the festival celebrates its 52nd year of music, artisanship and fish on the center grounds.

As always, it will be organized and carried out by the people of Grant-Valkaria: no professional organizers or promoters, no outsiders save those who sell their goods or perform. Families sometimes pass their booths down through the generations and anyone may be asked to do anything.

“We do it all: the organization, the cooking, the grounds, the preparation, everything, and it is a year-long commitment,” said Roberts, who serves as a spokesperson for the event as well as food-purchaser-in-chief. “We do not have any outside food vendors on-site. I don’t know of another (local) festival where that happens.”

This year’s event, which is expected to draw thousands of people as usual, won’t be a whole lot different from its predecessors, except for a change from mahi to cobia on a sandwich and ticket sales at the remote parking area at the Valkaria Airport as well as on-site.

Organizers again stressed that although legitimate service dogs will be permitted, pets will not be allowed on festival grounds, nor will coolers or tents. As always, parking and admission will be free.

Twenty-four grilled, fried, steamed and boiled seafood choices will be served, including three soups (lobster bisque and Manhattan and New England clam chowder, as well as typical festival fare: hot dogs, burgers, chicken nuggets, key lime pie, cotton candy and ice cream. As always, beer and wine will be served in addition to soft drinks and coffee.

Live entertainment will begin with My Remedy, which will perform from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, followed by Umbrella Thieves to 7 p.m. Nightfly and Caribbean Chillers will provide Sunday’s music, from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 1:45 to 6 p.m.

About 125 exhibitor-sellers from throughout Florida again will set up shop in the arts and crafts area, which will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.

It is not, however, a festival for the sake of having a festival. Its organizing group is the Grant Community Club and every dollar made in the course of each weekend has gone or will go to a local cause: the Grant Seafood Festival and Charles Conway Memorial Scholarship funds, the Grant Historical House, the Grant Community Library and the Grant Community Center.

“Community” is pervasive in Grant-Valkaria, whose festival also includes community service displays and a book sale on the community center steps to benefit the library, which is not part of the county’s system, but an all-volunteer, locally-funded venture.

“I always like to stress how hard this community works to bring up our children to accept that that community spirit. You do what you can for the community because you live here,” said Roberts, a semiretired “cruise specialist” whose family started making crabcakes at the festival’s inception and whose first job there was collecting trash.

She may be found in the cook shack throughout the weekend; Bedford, making sweet puppies, hush puppy-like fried treats or side dishes, depending on perspective.

“We work, and we may grumble a little, but we have fun,” Roberts said. “You will never work harder and you never will have a better time. We want people to join us.”

Bill Farina’s Shrimp and Grits

Bill Farina of Creative Catering by the Farinas, a big volunteer for the Grant Seafood Festival, said last year they sold more than 2,100 servings of shrimp and grits. This year, they’re aiming for 3,000 servings. Here’s a recipe by Farina that you could make at home – or try at the festival.

For grits: Follow the recipe on the side of the package, however, substitute 75 percent of the water amount with seafood stock, and for every 1½ cups of grits, add a tablespoon of butter.

For shrimp:

1 pound 25-30 count shrimp, peeled, deveined and tail on

2 strips of thick-cut bacon

1/3 cup chopped onion

1/3 cup green bell pepper

1 teaspoon chopped shallots

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

2 tablespoons dry white wine

2 sticks butter

1 tablespoon seasoned bread crumbs

5 tablespoons Cajun season, divided

Cayenne pepper

Salt

Black pepper

Paprika

Chopped green onions

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Bill Farina's shrimp and grits will go for four food tickets, or $5, at the Grant Seafood Festival, which will be March 4-5.(Photo: Suzy Fleming Leonard/FLORIDA TODAY)

Place the shrimp in a shallow bowl and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of Cajun season, salt, black pepper, paprika and a few dashes of cayenne pepper. Prep shrimp ahead of time, and let sit in the refrigerator until it’s time to cook them.

In a large sautee pan, fry 2 strips of thick cut bacon. Remove to a paper towel when done. Turn heat up on pan to high and add the shrimp to the bacon grease. Saute for 3 minutes, then remove them to a plate.

Lower heat to medium, and now saute 1/3 cup each of fine-chopped onion and green bell pepper, 1 teaspoon chopped shallots, 1 tablespoon chopped garlic and the 2 strips of bacon, chopped. If the mixture seems too dry, add a tablespoon of butter.

Heat mixture for 3 min. then add the plate of shrimp and it’s liquid, turn heat up a little, coat shrimp with mixture for a few minutes then place shrimp on grits, and spoon spicy butter mixture over the top.